Posted on April 12, 2026 by Rabbi Noah Diamondstein
Dear friends,
Far more often than I could ever have imagined doing in my career, I have had to address the rise of antisemitism–synagogues attacked, Jews harmed in the streets, laws up for consideration, and governmental tactics and agents, all of which echo and resemble the darkest hour of Jewish history. A theology professor of mine at Hebrew Union College taught that any Jewish theology that does not meaningfully address the Shoah, the Holocaust, is incomplete. The Shoah reminds us constantly of the depths to which humanity can sink, the evil which we have the potential to wreak, the devastating potential of hatred in human hands and hearts.
Tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m., Temple Beth-El will host our wider Jewish community’s Yom HaShoah gathering. We will hear testimony from the descendant(s) of survivors, offer songs, prayers, and readings, and say Kaddish for the Six Million who perished at the hands of the Nazis. In this time of antisemitism with a precedent only to be found in Europe of the 1930’s and 40’s, it is our responsibility as Jews to remember, to be present and to bear witness. I hope you will all join us for this gathering as we join with fellow Jews and Jewish institutions in our locale to mark this solemn day.
There is an International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and it is scheduled on the anniversary of the day that the Allied forces liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. While an important remembrance, this moment in history paints the Jews as imprisoned victims of slaughter, rather than as people with agency overpowered by forces more powerful than them. Thus, Yom HaShoah, the Jewish Holocaust remembrance day, is celebrated on the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, such that we might remind ourselves of our resilience even as we grieve.
In every Torah scroll, the verse that we now refer to as the “Shema” is written such that the letter ayin at the end of ‘Shema’ and the letter dalet at the end of ‘echad’ are significantly enlarged. Those two letters, ayin and dalet, together form the word Eid, which means “a witness.” In saying the Shema, those words that unite us as a People across lines of denomination and geography, we bear witness to our People’s uniqueness, ingenuity, adaptability, resilience, and continuity. In the same way, that big ayin and big dalet are a constant reminder that as an ancient People we have borne witness to humanity’s highest highs and lowest lows. Yom HaShoah is perhaps our most important annual act of bearing witness. I hope you will join the Cantor and me tomorrow in fulfilling this mitzvah.
B’shalom,
Rabbi Noah Diamondstein